Page 46 of Absolved In Death

We had somuch to do tomorrow, including holding an army-wide meeting to welcome them to Pit-13. Everyone promptly went to their own rooms to tuck in for bed. Despite my best efforts, my brain wouldn’t power down. I kept thinking of what I saw. The blood soaked battlefield…the corpses of my soldiers…the glaring absence of my men. My stomach soured at the millions of potential reasons they may not have been with me, each one bad enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

What I saw may have beena vision or a prophecy, but it felt like an omen of what was to come.

The only thoughtthat allowed me enough peace of mind to go to sleep was that the future could always change. And I’d make sure this version never came to pass.

I’d doanything to keep my men safe.

15

AZAZEL

Meet me in the Seeing Chamber,I linked Michael.

I put my ear up to Diana’s bedroom door, using my superhearing to zero in on her. She was fast asleep, her heartbeat slow and steady. Ares was softly snoring, and I was sure he had his limbs octopussed around Diana so tightly, neither of them would follow me. Carefully, I probed at the temporary wards, giving myself just enough of an opening to slip out of our apartment.

I didn’t know my way around enough to fade there, so I took off at a brisk walk down the hallway on my way to the bottom floor, where the shared amenities were located. Quelier and Lucifer completely renovated Pit-13. It no longer resembled a dungeon, and it wasn’t a military base like the Costa Compound. They set it up like a city. Instead of barracks, we all stayed in apartment buildings. Each building had shared amenities on the bottom floor, and our building had a Seeing Chamber just for me. Desmond built it for me, based on the old chamber I had the first time we dated. Having a dedicated, optimally balanced place to use my Sight usually resulted in better visions. Hopefully we could use them to turn the tide of this war.

Knowing Desmond thought about me enough to build it made my stomach swoop. The cold, distant workaholic I originally dated was slowly, but surely, turning into a more thoughtful partner. And Inoticed. When he showed it to me earlier today, I made sure to show my appreciation…privately.

Desmond, Bash, Ares, and I had just arrived in Pit-13 after the battle at the compound. The battle had left me in a rare mood. Angie’s transformation would cause issues—it was a matter of if, not when—because karma always balanced itself eventually. It was a hurdle we’d have to jump whenever that time came. Don’t get me wrong, I was just as happy as Diana that her aunt got a second chance at life, but knowing that imbalance was out there stressed me out.

I had lived long enough to know how wicked and cruel the world could truly be.

“Feathers, did you see the crown molding in here?!” Ares shouted, throwing his arm over my shoulder.

“This is a swanky place, for sure,” Bash mused as we walked through the bottom floor for a mini tour. Tomorrow, all six of us would take a full tour of the facilities.

Desmond hung back, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me away from Ares.

“I have something I want to show Az, we’ll meet up with you two in a few,” he said before guiding me down another hallway with his hand on the small of my back. “I want to show you something,” he whispered in my ear.

“Okay…” I wasn’t used to Desmond being so secretive or spontaneous. He was a straightforward demon who was usually too focused on work, his head swirling with numbers and plans. This was uncharted territory, and I was excited for what came next.

“I promise, you’re going to love it.” His smile was a thousand watts—something I had only seen a handful of times since I met him.

We stopped at the door at the end of the hallway. It looked just like all the other doors, except it had an open eye carved into the center of it. He put my hand on it, then placed his hand over mine. A bright red light surrounded the door, tickling my fingertips as it passed from the top to the bottom.

“Added you to the ward. Only you can enter now…” he looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to open it.

I opened it, and my mouth dropped. It was a Seeing Chamber, just like the one I had in my first home on earth after I was disgraced. It has smooth quartz stone walls, with a pristine gemstone floor. The amethysts, clear quartz, moonstone, and citrine exuded the perfect vibes for directing my Sight. He included a wading pool on the other side of the room the size of a jacuzzi, perfect for soaking. Some of my best visions were had while in the bath, and I was shocked he remembered that.

My body lightly trembled just from the energy in the room, and I still stood at the threshold. I took my shoes and socks off, leaving them in the shoe basket next to the door before entering.

“Des…” I gasped as I sat on the giant pillow in the center. “Thank you.”

“You never mentioned having one the entire time we reconnected and I remembered how much you loved the one you had in your cabin…Is it okay?” He sat next to me on the floor, his legs in front of him.

“It’s everything I could possibly want. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t describe how much I appreciate this.”

“I know I’ve been working a lot, and I wanted you to know that even when I’m in meetings, I’m still thinking ofyou. As soon as Quelier suggested the move, I started mentally designing the room.”

I crawled into his lap, weaving my fingers into his hair and pulling him into a kiss. My words didn’t feel like enough to encompass my gratitude, but hopefully my actions conveyed exactly how I felt. Desmond’s tongue slid into my mouth, stealing my air with every meeting of our lips. What started as a slow burn picked up to a roaring fire. Before I knew it, my back was on the pillow, his hard body above mine. His hand cradled my head as he kissed down my neck. With a snap of my fingers, my clothes were gone. His eyes roamed the planes and lines of my body, from my pecs down to my hard length. My muscles weren’t bulky like his, but more compact. He ate the sight as if he was starving, and I realized how long it had been since we were truly alone together.

He glided his hand along my abs slowly, almost reverently, feeling every groove as he made his way to my faint V-line. It differed from his rough, dominant touch. Desmond enjoyed control during sex, and I enjoyed being under his control. But the passionate version of him was just as enticing.

I wrapped my legs around him and flipped us over so he laid beneath me. Our cocks slotted together, and the feeling of his jeans against my bare length had me leaking. I felt the cold touch of his shadows as they caressed my torso and arms. He snapped his fingers, and his clothes were neatly folded in the shoe basket.

I ran my hand over his biceps, down his sides until I wrapped it around us, giving our cocks a firm stroke. His big golden eyes peered up at me as he gasped in pleasure. My positivity sparked, perfuming around us. I wanted to make him feel so good.

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